Donald Trump’s town hall moderator savaged by president’s supporters

The moderator of Donald Trump’s town hall has been savaged by his supporters for her aggressive approach, but others praised her tough stance.

The moderator for Donald Trump’s town hall has been savaged by his supporters for repeatedly clashing with the president, but others have praised her hard-line approach.

The live town hall events featuring Mr Trump and Joe Biden were held in place of the second presidential debate.

The decision to hold two separate town halls was made after Mr Trump refused to participate in a virtual presidential debate following his COVID-19 diagnosis.

Mr Trump may be regretting saying no to a virtual debate after he copped an hour long grilling from NBC moderator Savannah Guthrie, with tensions growing between the pair as the event wore on.

Outraged viewers blasted Guthrie as “hostile” and “an embarrassment”, claiming she was attacked the president rather than moderating the event.

However, there were many that praised Guthrie for holding the president to account by asking him to answer her questions directly.

RELATED: Follow our live coverage of the presidential town hall events

NBC's Savannah Guthrie's hard-line approach to the town hall divided viewers. Picture: NBC

Donald Trump clashed with Guthrie on many occasions. Picture: NBC

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Guthrie started out by grilling the president about his coronavirus symptoms when he last tested negative before receiving his positive result.

She then questioned him over his response to the pandemic on a broader scale before turning her line of questioning to another contentious issue.

Guthrie asked why Mr Trump refused to denounce white supremacy when asked during the first presidential debate, instead only doing do two days later.

“Oh, you always do this,” Mr Trump interjected during the question

“You know, you always do this. You’ve done this to me, and everybody – I denounced white supremacy, OK?”

“You did it two days later,” Guthrie said.

“I’ve denounced white supremacy for years. But you always do it, you always start off with the question,” the president said.

Mr Trump complained that Joe Biden wasn’t asked whether he denounces Antifa and claimed another NBC reporter asked his rival questions “like he was a child”.

“Are you listening? I denounced white supremacy. What’s your next question?” the president said.

But Guthrie refused to change the subject, saying sometimes felt like Mr Trump was “hesitant” to denounce the white supremacy.

The exchange between Mr Trump and Guthrie went on like this for some time, with Guthrie also asking the president to denounce QAnon, a far-right conspiracy theory that suggests the Democrats are a Satanic paedophile ring.

The president repeatedly claimed he didn’t know about the theory, with Guthrie continually insisting that he did and asking him to publicly denounce it.

Mr Trump’s campaign released a statement following the event claiming the president “soundly defeated NBC’s Savannah Guthrie in her role as debate opponent and Joe Biden surrogate”.

“President Trump masterfully handled Guthrie’s attacks and interacted warmly and effectively with voters in the room,” the statement read.

Social media was flooded with comments following the debate, with opinions split on Guthrie’s moderating style.

Here is what some of her critics are saying:

It’s the media’s job to be critical but respectful of the President.

Savannah Guthrie is just downright hostile!

— JT Lewis (@thejtlewis) October 16, 2020

She's like an angry 14 year old girl who hates Trump to the core...and she's the host of this show?? What a JOKE!

— David Wohl (@DavidWohl) October 16, 2020

We, the American People, want a Town Hall Meeting or a Debate between the Candidates, NOT a debate with the media. @SavannahGuthrie . WE NEED moderators who can put their personal prejudices aside. Job well done @realDonaldTrump Fantastic 30 second close. @FoxNews @OANN

— Omar Blanco (@OmarBlancoFL) October 16, 2020

Pres Trump could wake up every single day and make a public statement denouncing bigotry and he would still get asked to restate it by every fake news charlatan like @SavannahGuthrie https://t.co/vT0SPtnOQC

— Steve Cortes (@CortesSteve) October 16, 2020

And here is what her supporters are saying:

.@SavannahGuthrie managed the mood, kept the right tone and tenor, and asked direct questions that provided insight and elicited answers to help Americans understand where President Trump stands on issues they care about. https://t.co/x8I38w0TyJ

— Vicky Nguyen (@VickyNguyenTV) October 16, 2020

No matter what side you’re on you have to admit that @SavannahGuthrie told truth to power like few have done in a loooong time. HUGE kudos.

— Kevin Chupka (@kevinchupka) October 16, 2020

I would like to say @SavannahGuthrie did an amazing job tonight. Literally made @POTUS look like the fool he is. Bravo Savannah. 👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼

— Tam Mutu (@tammutu) October 16, 2020

Hysterical.

Trump dodges a debate because he got destroyed by Biden the first tome, ridicules NBC and Savannah Guthrie all day, and now Conservatives are crying because she was “mean to him” by calling out his BS in ways they never will.

Frauds.#VoteBidenHarris2020

— John Pavlovitz (@johnpavlovitz) October 16, 2020